Even after six months, the Mohali municipal corporation has failed to appoint a new firm to take up the dog sterilisation programme in the city, despite 8,445 dog bite cases being reported in 2021, the highest in the past five years. Also, 1500 cases have been reported in 2022 till February 28.
The stray dog population in Mohali has increased by approximately 1,000 over the last year. In June 2020, there were around 10,000 stray canines in Mohali. Now, there are approximately 11,000 dogs.
Last year, some of the worst-affected areas were Sectors 76 to 80 and Phases 3B1, 3B2, 4, 5, 9 and 10. Such is the menace in these areas that residents are scared to step out of their homes.
It was on September 5 last year that the contract of the previous agency ended. Since then, MC has floated tenders twice, but no firm was found eligible. MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said, “We floated tenders twice, but the agencies who applied were not recognized by Animal Welfare Board of India. We have written to the government of India to relax the norms so that the firm can be finalised.”
Deputy mayor of Mohali MC, Kuljeet Singh Bedi, said that they haven’t been able to appoint a new firm due to the strict norms of the government of India. On other hand, the population of dogs has gone up manifold, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Deputy mayor of Mohali MC, Kuljeet Singh Bedi, said that they haven’t been able to appoint a new firm due to the strict norms of the government of India. On other hand, the population of dogs has gone up manifold, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Satvir Singh Dhanoa, former president of Citizen’s Welfare and Development Forum, Mohali, said that the civic body is not taking the stray dog menace seriously. “It is sad that they have failed to finalise the firm in the past six months.”
Yearly dog bites
The stray dog population in Mohali increased by around 10% in 2021.
2017: 1,970
2018: 2,340
2019: 3,532
2020: 4,513
2021: 8,445
2022: 1,500 (till February 28)